Tawdry revelations from the diaries of a former intelligence chief are proving yet again that no one does scandal like the French: Authorities are accusing Yves Bertrand of spying on Nicolas Sarkozy’s wives and lovers to smear him before he became president and keep Jacques Chirac in power. Bertrand called the allegations “pure fantasy” and defended his notes on the scandal.
“It is normal,” said Bertrand, whose diaries also claim Chirac got a facelift in Canada, an ex-minister had sex with “little boys,” and that another minister was a coke addict. The scandal shows the “extent to which the intelligence service has been used as a tool for settling personal vendettas instead of defending state interests,” the London Times says.
(More Nicolas Sarkozy stories.)